WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Masks are back inside all Luzerne County government buildings.
"Deja Vu, yes. I thought the worst was over, and one day already, the ears hurt. You can't breathe, fogs up the glasses when you're cooking in a hot kitchen. It's extremely hard," said Donna Yonkondy. "And we wouldn't be in this boat we're in now if everybody would just get vaccinated. We're going backwards instead of forwards."
Donna Yonkondy owns and operates the Center City Cafe inside the Luzerne County Courthouse and to say she's frustrated with the return of a mask mandate here is an understatement. She's nervous about what could happen next.
"Correct, because when it was the 6-foot distance which I'm afraid, that's going to happen again, jurors were not allowed in the building because they didn't have the room," said Yonkondy. "So our extra clientele customers are the jurors. And now, if they go back to no jurors, my sales get cut in half, and then it hurts me after trying to survive for a year and a half. And I made it. 'The Little Engine That Could,' I made it, and now I'm getting worried again."
Acting County Manager Romilda Crocamo says she's turning to health professionals and the CDC when it comes to making a tough decision like this.
"When the guideline shifted to substantial, at that point, I knew that something had to be done to protect the county employees. So, I instituted the mask policy," said Crocamo.
Newswatch 16 saw people going in and out of the courthouse all day. Many were prepared with a mask, but for the first few days of the mandate, security will have a mask for you outside the entrance.
Crocamo says safety is the county's number one concern, and the mask policy is to protect the staff here at the courthouse and those who are not vaccinated.
"The virus does not discriminate against anyone based on their gender or their race or the religion or the political party," said Crocamo. "And for people who are not vaccinated and if they do get the virus. They will have significant health concerns."
Crocamo says the mask mandate is temporary, and she encourages people in Luzerne County to get the vaccine.
For any future decisions about mitigation techniques in county buildings, she will continue to seek advice from health officials in the county and the CDC.